Expenses boss in '£16k taxis claim'

The head of the new parliamentary expenses watchdog claimed almost £16,000 on taxi fares in his previous job, it has been reported.

Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), spent £15,813 of taxpayers' money on private-hire cabs when he was the £170,000-a-year chairman of the Healthcare Commission (HC), according to the Independent on Sunday.

Accounts obtained by the newspaper revealed he claimed for more than 1,000 taxi journeys between 2004 and March last year, many of which were trips between his office and his North London home.

The documents also showed £4,000 went on train fares and several lunches and dinners.

The details of Sir Ian's expenses come after he was accused of "watering down" plans to reform the parliamentary expenses system.

A consultation paper published by Ipsa earlier this month included a number of amendments to the original proposals to clean up MPs' expenses drawn up by Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

Under the changes, MPs with constituencies within commuting distance of London will still be able to claim for second homes.

Ipsa also said MPs should be able to vote on a recommendation for the return of capital gains tax they made on the sale of second homes bought with taxpayer-funded mortgages and it will look again at whether they can employ members of their own families.

The full details of what MPs must re-pay the Exchequer will be published by the Commons on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Care Quality Commission, which superseded the Healthcare Commission, told the Independent on Sunday that the agreement to pay travel to and from work instead of contributions to a pension for Sir Ian saved the commission £5,000-£8,000 annually.